How do you take a punch ?

I have heard 2 schools of thought.

1st said that you should relax your neck or body part and roll with it, let it pass through.

2nd says i should tense up (especially for head hits) because what causes the K.O. is the snapping, instead you should bite harder on your mouthpiece and fight against the hit (but couldnt that really strain your neck ?)

i tried search.exe and was reminded of bureaucratic inefficiencies, so here i ask you.

If I don't manage to avoid a punch I tend to turn my head down and take it on the forehead. Trying to "go with" the punch is just going to get you rocked and set you up for the second punch. You tuck your chin and keep things tight so you don't end up in a vulnerable position. There's no way you're going to be able to move fast enough to "roll with" a punch.

In my experience it depends on where you are in relation to your opponent, and where you're being struck.

If you are relatively close, and are able to close the distance, you can rob many strikes of a significant amount of power by smothering them before they reach the end of their arc. Alternatively, if you are reasonably distant from the strike, it 's sometimes effective to roll with it.

It also depends on the angle and type of attack. Trying to roll with a bodyshot isn't really going to help you. Smothering it will also hurt, but is a slightly better option if for some reason you are unable to check or avoid it completely.

So what exactly do we mean when we say "roll with" a punch? If you're just letting the punch knock you back then all you're doing is setting yourself up to get knocked out. A good boxer isn't just going to throw a punch for the sake of throwing a punch, but to set you up and move your head around intentionally for hard vital blows.

So what exactly do we mean when we say "roll with" a punch? If you're just letting the punch knock you back then all you're doing is setting yourself up to get knocked out. A good boxer isn't just going to throw a punch for the sake of throwing a punch, but to set you up and move your head around intentionally for hard vital blows.

Good point.

Would you say it's a fair definition that "rolling with a punch" must include a degree of deflection, and a return to your original position? Allowing yourself to be knocked back would not count, nor would simply flinching back when getting hit.

You can definitely roll with a body shot. Watch more bare knuckle Karate sparring to see this. I would often turn my body as a shot was landing to both absorb the blow and set myself up to return a strike from the opposite side. If "rolling with it" means falling away from the shot to you then you are doing it wrong.

As far as head shots goes I definitely agree with Kid; if it is a square shot you want to tuck your chin and take it on the forehead. Otherwise use a similar technique to what i described with the body shot. Whenever you are turning away from a shot some part of your body should be turning toward your opponent and attacking.

Example: (in this example for some reason you can't avoid or block the shot)
Opponent throws a right hook at your chin.
Tuck your chin and turn your body with the punch. NOT just your head!
As you are turning throw a left hook at their exposed head or a left kick at their planted leg.

#1 is if I want to remain neutral like during demonstrations where I take punches from strangers. The key is to dissipate the kinetic energy of the punch. Sensitivity is critical. Core Taichi technique.
To do that you'll need to maintain good alignment of the spine, so a punch to my nose will have my chin down and I move back a few steps from a solid slug while maintaining an upright spine and stance.
This is very much like a ball that rolls away from blows and eventually come to a stop.

#2 to interrupt the full power of the punch by in-stepping or side-stepping into it.